Steam and Age of Empires III are asking for administrator access, is this normal?
Age of Empires III was created prior to UAC and the vista / windows 7 security model. Steam will require administrative access to install Age of Empires III, and the game will require administrative access to run properly.

Why does Age of Empires III changes the Windows Color scheme to Basic when running?
On newer operating systems, Age of Empires III needs to run in Compatibility mode for XP SP3. Because of this, it will disable the Aero visual style while running.

Where is my CD key for Age of Empires III?
Your CD key is visible prior to launching the game on steam, as well as in a popup-overlay when launching the game. You can manually see it by right clicking on the game in your Steam library and selecting “View Game CD Key”.

Can I activate a retail copy of Age of Empires III on Steam?
Unfortunately Retail copies cannot be activated on steam.

Where are saved games and campaigns stored for Age of Empires III: Complete Collection?
Saved games are located in your documents or “My Documents” folder, by default (depending on OS) C:\Users\%YOU_USERNAME%\Documents\My Games\Age of Empires 3
Saved games will not automatically transfer in the cloud between systems.

I’m running Age of Empires III on a different computer user account than it was installed, but am having issues. Will it work?
To play AOEIII on a user account other than the one it was installed on, you may need to launch directly from the steamapps folder as administrator to get access to all features. Navigate to the install directory, right click “age3.exe”, “age3x.exe”, or “age3y.exe” and select “Run as Administrator”.

Can I use my retail ESO account to log in to Age of Empires III on Steam?
Age of Empires III on steam provides you with a unique key to create a new ESO account, however if you already have an ESO account you'd prefer to use - you may log into ESO with that account.

How do I chat to all players in a multiplayer game?
Start your chat message with a * and your message will be sent to all players.

How do I repair my buildings?
Select the building and click on the repair button in the bottom right of the interface. Note this button may not be active if you do not have enough resources to repair, or if the building is under attack.

How do card bonuses stack?
We apply all the percentages to the base rate not the modified rate.
If your gathering rate is 0.5 and you get a 15% bonus, it becomes 0.575. Easy enough.
However, if you get an additional 15% bonus, it does not affect 0.575, but it is calculated based on 0.5 and then added to the existing bonus. So getting three different 15% bonuses would increase gathering from 0.5 to 0.725 (0.075 added three times) rather than 0.760 (which is what you get if you keep multiplying the product by 15%).
The reasons we do this are a little arcane, but they allow you to apply both addition and multiplications to rates without worrying about the order of operations.

Can two teammates send the same Team card?
Two teammates using the same Civ should are not able to send the same team card. But you can send both the team and non-team versions of a card, see above for how they stack.

Can we play with three teams in a game?
No, at this time you can only play 2 team or Free for all games.

How did you chose which civs make it into the game?
There is no simple formula to how we choose to include a civ. It's a mixture of:
Historical relevance
Uniqueness
Fan expectations
Global prominence
Designer bias
Art time

We wanted to have the civs players expected, like the Spanish, but also to throw in some curve balls. The Ottomans and Germans were quite powerful during the time period and easily could have come to the New World with different leadership (as could a dozen other nations).

Some additional (legacy) FAQ questions and answers can be found on the Agecommunity FAQ page (http://agecommunity.com/faq_general.aspx)
Specific or detailed game questions should be directed to the forums here or at http://agecommunity.com/.

nahka

01-05-2012, 12:14 PM

I have Age Of Empires 3 collector's edition cd-key (no expansion packs). Will it work on the activation screen?

Edit: Can I use my previos ESO-account or is it CD-key tied?

MS Ryz0n

01-05-2012, 12:22 PM

I have Age Of Empires 3 collector's edition cd-key (no expansion packs). Will it work on the activation screen?

Edit: Can I use my previos ESO-account or is it CD-key tied?

Different SKUs have unique CD keys, it is unlikely that it will work in many cases.
You can, however, use your old ESO account to play online with this version if you remember the login information!

MARCOXZ

01-05-2012, 12:25 PM

Can i use my retail keys to activate the games?

MS Ryz0n

01-05-2012, 12:27 PM

Can i use my retail keys to activate the games?

I've seen that one a few times, I'll add it to the FAQ. Unfortunately Retail copies cannot be activated on Steam.

Pingpong0101

01-05-2012, 12:34 PM

Are you ever going to lower the price for a seven year old game?

It is amazing and everything, i have the retail but the price is just over the top. (I want to buy it for the expansions &steam version)

It's nice to see someone cares here. :p

MARCOXZ

01-05-2012, 12:38 PM

Anyway to get them on steam? like an ESO acc, pictures, anything?

s1234567890m

01-05-2012, 05:11 PM

Is the steam DRM turned on? ie can i run it without the steam exe running?

SandeProElite

01-10-2012, 08:31 AM

Why can't I access the Steam Community by pressing Alt+Tab in-game?

MS Ryz0n

01-10-2012, 10:25 AM

Why can't I access the Steam Community by pressing Alt+Tab in-game?

The steam overlay is not accessible unless you run steam as an administrator prior to launching aoe3. right click steam and select "Run as admin"

SandeProElite

01-10-2012, 11:58 AM

The steam overlay is not accessible unless you run steam as an administrator prior to launching aoe3. right click steam and select "Run as admin"

Do I really have to do this every time I launch Steam? Isn't it possible to patch this issue?

ekdo

01-25-2012, 01:38 AM

hi guys, except for aoe iii (main game), ivent been able to find or play rest of the games inc asian dynasties. where can i locate them n run??

MS Ryz0n

01-25-2012, 10:03 AM

Do I really have to do this every time I launch Steam? Isn't it possible to patch this issue?

You can right click on the steam shortcut, go to 'properties' then 'compatibility' then just check the 'run as administrator' checkbox. Start steam the way you normally do and it should run as admin.

hi guys, except for aoe iii (main game), ivent been able to find or play rest of the games inc asian dynasties. where can i locate them n run??
Right click on the game in your library and it will give you the option to play either of the expansions as well. I'd suggest launching TAD, you can play all campaigns from there and it provides the most options when playing online.

ekdo

01-26-2012, 02:35 AM

You can right click on the steam shortcut, go to 'properties' then 'compatibility' then just check the 'run as administrator' checkbox. Start steam the way you normally do and it should run as admin.

Right click on the game in your library and it will give you the option to play either of the expansions as well. I'd suggest launching TAD, you can play all campaigns from there and it provides the most options when playing online.

thank u i found it :)

Roymond

02-04-2012, 02:28 PM

If I have the retail version of Age 3 (The Gold Edition), can I play games online through Steam?

Actually, come to think of it, if I buy Age of Empires 3 through steam, will I be able to find matches anyways?

musketeer925

02-04-2012, 05:27 PM

The Steam version and the Retail version have the same online servers.

MS Ryz0n

02-06-2012, 08:51 AM

If I have the retail version of Age 3 (The Gold Edition), can I play games online through Steam?

Actually, come to think of it, if I buy Age of Empires 3 through steam, will I be able to find matches anyways?

All versions of AOE3 (retail / steam / digital distribution / etc) use the Ensemble Studios Online or ESO Service. Regardless of where you purchased your game from, you'll be playing against everyone else with the same version of the game as you (i.e. expansion level). The current user counts can be found here:
http://www.agecommunity.com/_server_status_/

So yes, you will be able to find matches with people. The ease of which depends on the gametype you're playing, your level, and what time of day you're playing. Router configurations can also affect the situation.

ttyork

05-02-2012, 12:51 AM

I've seen that one a few times, I'll add it to the FAQ. Unfortunately Retail copies cannot be activated on Steam.

so those of us who purchased like say...3 copies of this game to play multiplayer with our families but who upgraded our windows versions to the newest windows are out of luck because the retail versions are not compatible. You think it's reasonable to expect us to purchase a new copy of the game on the off chance this one works on our systems?

MS Ryz0n

05-02-2012, 01:24 PM

so those of us who purchased like say...3 copies of this game to play multiplayer with our families but who upgraded our windows versions to the newest windows are out of luck because the retail versions are not compatible. You think it's reasonable to expect us to purchase a new copy of the game on the off chance this one works on our systems?

You can run the game (retail version) on windows 7 in nearly every situation. I do so in the office.
Usually its as simple as installing the game as admin, then running it in compatibility mode for XP SP3 and 'run as admin'.

More information can be found here:
http://forum.agecommunity.com/forums/permalink/911761/911761/ShowThread.aspx#911761

The steam version has a few tweaks built in to automatically enable these things and make the install process easier, but if you have a retail copy you should be able to play on win7.

arahman98

05-03-2012, 06:55 AM

About the percentage bonuses: in the base game (no updates), bonuses were calculated on the current value. It was quite fun researching the numerical HP upgrades for the explorer and then stacking the percentage upgrades- of course, I can see why this was changed.

You can run the game (retail version) on windows 7 in nearly every situation. I do so in the office.
Usually its as simple as installing the game as admin, then running it in compatibility mode for XP SP3 and 'run as admin'.

More information can be found here:
http://forum.agecommunity.com/forums/permalink/911761/911761/ShowThread.aspx#911761

The steam version has a few tweaks built in to automatically enable these things and make the install process easier, but if you have a retail copy you should be able to play on win7.

I have never had to run the game as Admin (never install games on Program Files). I would get warnings the first time I run the game that it might be incompatible with Windows 7 (both 32 and 64 bit), but I can just ignore that, and the game will run just fine.

musketeer925

05-03-2012, 12:17 PM

(never install games on Program Files). I did install the game in program files and have never had to run as administrator. I'm on Windows 7 64-bit.